COMPOSITION
by
ARTHUR W. DOW
LIBRARY OF
WELLESLEY COLLEGE
BEQUEST OF
ALICE CHENEY BALTZ3LL
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries
http://www.archive.org/details/compositionserieOOdowa
COMPOSITION
A SERIES OF EXERCISES SELECTED
FROM A NEW SYSTEM OF
ART EDUCATION
BY
ARTHUR W. DOW
Professor of Fine Arts in Teachers College, Columbia University, New York,
formerly Instructor in Pratt Institute and the Art
Students' League of New York
PART I
SIXTH EDITION
NEW YORK
THE BAKER AND TAYLOR COMPANY
33 East Seventeenth Street
1905
luestef
Copyright, 1899, by Arthur W. Dow.
\^°\D-i^
CONTENTS
PAGE
NOTE 5
LINE DRAWING AND MATERIALS 7
LINE COMPOSITION
I. — Squares 16
II. — Variation 18
III. — Examples of Beautiful Straight Line Arrangement . . 21
IV. — Landscape 24
V. — Examples of Pictures Composed on Rectangular Lines . 27
VI. — Repetition — Oblique Lines 29
VII. — Landscape Arrangement 32
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
VIII. — Notan 36
IX. — Notan of Line . . '■■ • 38
X. — Notan of Two Tones — Straight Line Patterns ... 41
XI. — Two Tones — Variation 44
FLOWER COMPOSITION
XII. — Line and Notan of Two Tones .46
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
XIII. — Notan of Landscape — Two Tones 50
BORDERS AND SURFACE PATTERNS
XIV. — Line and Notan of Two Tones ...... 56
FLOWER COMPOSITION
XV. — Borders in Two Tones 58
XVI. — Two Tones — Japanese Examples 60
BOOK COVERS, TITLE-PAGES, AND LETTERS
XVII. — Line and Notan of Two Tones . . „ . .62
BOOK-PAGE COMPOSITION
XVIII. — Two Tones — Landscape ....... 64
PAGE
LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION
XIX. — Two Tones — Japanese Examples 65
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
XX. — Three Tones 68
XXI. — Three Tones— Flowers .72
XXII. — Three Tones — Landscape 75
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
XXIII. — Three Tones — An Imaginary Poem 76
ADVANCED COMPOSITION
XXIV. — Many Tones 7g
CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART 83
NOTE
THE title "Composition" has been
given to this book because the
system of art instruction which it
represents has come to be commonly
known by that name. The term " Com-
position " is, however, too limited, as the
system in its full development includes,
not only so-called composition, but all
stages of the creation of a work of space-
art. But as the following exercises relate
to the fundamental process in such a
creation, viz., the putting together of lines
and masses, we will, for the present, ac-
cept the popular name.
This is the first publication of any con-
secutive series based upon the scheme of
art education whose elements are here
presented.
The history of the movement is as follows :
Some nine years ago, after a course in the
schools of Paris, I entered upon a com-
parative study of the art of all nations and
epochs, in the hope of finding more light
on composition in painting, and, incident-
ally, a better method of teaching than the
prevailing nature-copying. While seek-
ing for examples of Japanese art I met
Professor Ernest F. Fenollosa, then cura-
tor of the unrivalled Oriental collection in
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
He had had exceptional opportunities for
a critical knowledge of both Eastern and
Western art, and as a result of his re-
search and comparisons, guided by a bril-
liant mind's clear grasp of fundamental
ideas, had gained a new conception of
art itself. He believed Music to be, in a
sense, the key to the other fine arts, since
its essence is pure beauty ; that space-art
may be called "visual music,'" and may
be criticised and studied from this point
of view. Following this new conception,
he had constructed an art-educational
system radically different from those
whose corner-stone is Realism. Its lead-
ing thought is the expression of Beauty,
not Representation.
I at once felt the truth and reasonableness
of his position, and after much prepara-
tion in adapting these new methods to
practical use, I began teaching a class in
Boston, with Professor Fenollosa's co-
operation. Here for the first time in this
country, Japanese art materials were used
for educational purposes.
After a few years of quiet effort and ex-
periment in this way, Mr. Frederic B.
Pratt of Brooklyn became interested in
the results attained by this class, and as
a consequence, the work was transferred
in 1895 from my Boston studio to Pratt
Institute, where in a progressive atmo-
sphere, with large opportunity and hearty
cooperation, it has reached a development
already well known.
NOTE The art-instruction of modern days, an
out-growth of the theories of Leonardo
da Vinci, and the practice of later Renais-
sance and French academic artists, is too
largely scientific. The pupil, from the
very beginning, is forced to concentrate
his energies upon acquiring a knowledge
of various facts and processes. Self-ex-
pression is usually deferred till he has
" learned to draw, "till he has been through
a course of cast-drawing, perspective,
history, anatomy, history of costume, etc.,
— a thoroughly scientific drill related
chiefly to Realism. After all this, he at-
tempts to combine the knowledge and the
skill in artistic expression, or in other
words, a composition. Unless apprecia-
tion has developed despite the crowding
of other things, the chances are that his
work will lack the one vital element for
which art exists, and to which he has
as yet given slight attention — that is,
Beauty.
But in this new view, art study is the
gaining of an experience, and art instruc-
tion is the guiding of tendencies toward
appreciation, and the training of mind
and hand to create. This guidance and
training, we believe, can be given by a
series of exercises beginning, as in Music,
with the simplest. In fact, the main idea
in the system is to help the pupil at
the very outset to originate a beautiful
arrangement, say — a few lines harmo-
niously grouped together — and then
proceed onward step by step to greater
appreciation and fuller power of expres-
sion.
During this course, skill in drawing will
come as a natural growth, and knowledge
of perspective and all other requisites
will be sought as the developing artistic
faculty feels the need of them. In a word,
instead of spending most of the effort on
drawing, and then adding original work,
or Composition, we begin with Composi-
tion, and find that it will lead to all the
rest.
It is not my intention to furnish a book
from which art may be taught, but to
offer a principle by which an instructor
can be guided, and exercises and exam-
ples suggestive of ways of carrying out
the principle.
While the book will be of special service
to those who have already had training in
this method, to those who have not, it will
I hope, afford many new ideas, and a
mode of self-education.
The author is greatly indebted to his pu-
pils, who have so kindly offered examples
of their work, and also to friends who
have in various ways assisted in the pro-
duction of this book.
ARTHUR WESLEY DOW
New York, 1898
LINE-DRAWING AND MATERIALS
THE first step in the Art of Painting
is the drawing of lines as the
boundaries of shapes. These lines
may be straight or curved, wide, thin,
rough or sharp, faint or firm ; they may
be frankly left in the finished work, as in
Japanese prints and early Italian fres-
coes, or they may appear merely as the
edges of tones, as in a modern landscape
painting or a charcoal sketch. But in the
making of these lines there is opportu-
nity for great beauty of proportion, and a
powerful, vital touch, full of personality.
Examples are here given of lines by va-
rious great masters.
The line of Soga Shubun, Nos. i and 2, is
bold and strong, and varies with each ob-
ject drawn. The character and texture of
houses, rocks, trees and marsh grass are
suggested in the line.
The line of Sesshu, Nos. 3 and 4, is angu-
lar, rugged, and vibrating with the nerv-
ous force of the artist's hand.
The line of Kano Yusho, No. 5, is grace-
ful, but sharp and crisp.
The school of Kano Tanyu, Nos. 6, 7, 8,
and g, is readily recognized by the peculiar
quality of the slap-dash, picturesque line.
Okumura Masanobu, No. 10, puts into his
simple curves the classic purity of Greek
line.
Michelangelo's great Titanic lines, No.
11, are well calculated to express the su-
N? 6 TarC of A sfee^ch from bobfr of ftcTanyi*. Jchool
perhuman beings of his compositions.
Leonardo's, No. 12, combine delicacy and
absolute power.
Millet's strength lies largely in his line.
There is more than truth in it; there is
beauty and character and intense mean-
ing. (No. 13.)
To produce lines so expressive requires
complete control of the hand, guided by
a disciplined creative mind. It therefore
seems proper that the student should, at
the outset, enter upon a training that will
give him such control and discipline.
LINE-
DRAWING
AND
MATERIALS
MATERIALS
There are many implements for drawing
lines, but the one which responds most
readily, gives the widest range of quality
and tends soonest to make the hand obey
the will, is the Japanese brush. The sizes
generally used are shown in the illustra-
tion:
Lin« "WAtK V*rieuj Line -0iu»he»
oi-
The long brushes are best for long lines,
the short ones for sharp corners and
broken lines. The "painting brush" is
here meant, not the Chinese "writing
brush" which is worthless for this pur-
pose.
Japanese paper is to be preferred, as it is
specially prepared with glue-size, and so
takes the ink better than any other, is
beautiful in color and texture and thin
enough for tracing. I have found unprint-
ed wall paper very serviceable for prac-
tice : — it has a good surface and is cheap.
The best ink is the Japanese, ground on
the ink-stone, but other inks or even black
water-color may be used. Place a few
drops of water on the ink-stone, and rub
the stick of ink on the slant till intense
blackness results. Dry the stick at once
and wrap it in paper. Never leave it soak-
ing, or it will crumble to pieces.
DRAWING THE LINE
Pin your paper very smoothly upon a
board, or dampen and paste it by the edges.
If the brush is new, it must be washed
and dried, as the maker puts starch into
it to keep the point. Dipping a wet brush
into the ink, of course grays and weakens
the tone.
The board may be laid upon the knee or
on a desk: it can be flat or slightly in-
clined. Keep the head up and away from
it. Take the brush between thumb and
middle finger, as shown in the illustra-
tion, steadying it with the fore-finger.
planner of holrfinja A« Qv«t»n,
8
LINES BY
VARIOUS
MASTERS
(See page 7)
The Japanese ex-
amples on pages g, 10,
11 (except No. 4), and
on pages 39, 40, are
from the collections
in the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston.
i
■_
No. 1. — Soga Shubun, Japanese, XV century (part of screen)
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No. 2. — Soga Shubun
No. 3. — Sesshu, Japanese, XV century
Page 9
No. 4. — Sesshu (Japanese) XV century-
No. 5. — Kano Yusho, XVII century (fragment)
r7- <f= wi
No. g. — Kano Tanyu, XVII century (fragment)
Page 10
No. 8. — Kano Naonobu, XVII century (fragment)
LINES BY
VARIOUS
MASTERS
(Seepage 7)
Michelangelo
No. 7. — Kano Yasunobu, XVII century (fragment)
Michelangelo
Page n
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No. 12. — Leonardo da Vinci (Louvre)
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No. ii. — Michelangelo
Page 12
No. 13. — J. F. Millet
Dip it into the ink, and holding it perpen-
dicular to the paper, draw your line. It
must be held in a perpendicular position
in order to move freely in all directions
as does the etcher's needle.
The line is not drawn with the fingers, but
by a movement of the whole hand andarm
in one sweep. This gives greater force.
The hand may be steadied if necessary by
resting the end of the little finger on the
paper.
Determine the width of the line at the
start, by pressing the brush-point firmly
down till it spreads to the desired width.
Slowness of drawing is most important, as
an expressive or artistic line is not made
by mere momentum of the hand, but by
pure force of will controlling the hand.
In slow drawing, the line can be watched
and guided as it grows under the brush-
point.
Slight waverings, when not resulting from
weakness or nervousness, are not objec-
tionable ; in fact, may add to the individ-
uality and expressiveness of the line.
Good lme» - <(«-*vwn very slowly vuilt\
ui\Cki&e4 h^nd
Poor . we&fc line* - quicMy jrtwft
Brush m wrona j>e»i(*(on
N?1'0 Oxamur* M^^nobu. (&?*!*>•) iB*fOT,r. Ruled jint> hcnc* of T19 ArthtH vaIu*
13
LINE
DRAWING
AND
MATERIALS
LINE-
DRAWING
AND
MATERIALS
Examples of both good and faulty lines
are shown on preceding page.
EXERCISE
As the straight line is the simplest, the
pupils should begin with that and prac-
tice until they can draw it freely, remem-
bering that straightness of direction is
the essential point, not mere geometric
straightness. In beginning, the lines can
be about one-eighth or one-fourth inch
wide and must be kept of uniform width
throughout. Let them draw not only
isolated lines but sets of parallels, also
squares, etc., as in the illustration.
sake of a facsimile, but in the endeavor
to reach the same power and feeling.
The aim of this exercise is to put the hand
under control of the will, but it should not
be carried too far, as all the succeeding
problems will tend to the same end.
•4
41
A STARTING POINT
A work of fine art, in one view at least,
is a result of Appreciation combined
with Power to express.
Neither of these can be gained by methods
of scientific study ; on the contrary, they
are the birthright of every human being
and can be developed by training.
The most natural course of training is
that which begins with the simple ele-
ments of an art and leads on gradually to
its more complex problems. The student
who is set down before an outdoor land-
scape and directed to paint it, is at once
embarrassed by many different kinds of
obstacles ; the choice of the subject, plac-
ing it on the canvas, managing the darks,
mixing the colors, handling the brush, all
Pr4cr;c..i<n.j'<jr.w» «:h. japont,, BruiK Cf«duced Jt) confuse him because he is attempting an
Copying some of the lines by the masters advanced stage of his art, and lacks edu-
would be valuable, if done, not for the cation and experience.
14
The thought of the present system is that
the many different acts and processes that
go to make up a painting may be attacked
and mastered singly, and thereby a power
gained to handle them unconsciously
when they present themselves all to-
gether in an advanced work.
In the Art of Painting there are three ele-
ments by which beauty may be created :
i. LINE — that is, the boundaries of the
shapes.
2. DARK AND LIGHT MASSES.
3. COLOR.
(The first two only will be considered in
this book.)
The beginner might take up any one of
these and compose in it, or he might take
all three together in their simplest form.
But as Dark-and-Light and Color are
directly dependent upon Line, it seems
most reasonable to begin with Line, and
to become somewhat familiar with the
putting together of lines and the harmon-
izing of sizes and areas, before attempting
the other two.
Among the many kinds of lines used to
bound areas, the straight line is the sim-
plest, and here we have found a starting
point for a series of progressive studies.
If the pupil can create even a little beauty
with a few straight lines, he is on the way
to great possibilities, for it must be re-
membered that in this seemingly limited
field are to be found works of the high-
est order, from the Greek fret to Giotto's
Tower.
This is not the only starting point. There
are many others, but we will choose this
and begin our series with Straight Line
Composition.
LINE
DRAWING
AND
MATERIALS
— A START-
ING POINT
A Study in Proportion — e/ec^ °f 4'_(f re_n^ -sPAC'nQ' Ar"t grouping
15
LINE COMPOSITION
I.— SQUARES
PAINTING is a space art. It is con-
cerned with the breaking up of a
space into parts which vary in
shape, depth of tone and color.
In choosing a space for first attempts at
Composition, we shall take one of the sim-
plest — the square. It is bounded by
straight lines and its proportions cannot
be varied. We will use vertical and hori-
zontal lines of uniform width. The beauty
that will result from such elements must
be a beauty of proportion, a harmony of
well-cut space, a little musical theme in
straight lines and grouped areas.
If a square is cut at regular intervals —
No. 14 — no art can be manifested as long
as it is in outline only. But with irregu-
lar intervals there is room for inventive
genius, and the square may be cut sym-
metrically— No. 15 — or unsymmetrical-
ly No. 16. In the first case we have the
kind of beauty seen in panellings, etc. ; in
the second, plaids and ginghams.
EXERCISE
Let the pupil draw a square in pencil or
charcoal, purely by the eye, no measure-
ment of any kind being used. Then cut it
by vertical and horizontal lines. He can
choose one way of arranging his lines,
his theme, so to speak — say No. 17 — and
then see how many variations he can
make, keeping the same general plan. This
exercise may be much prolonged, if neces-
sary, but the pupil must constantly set
up a row of his drawings and compare
them, picking out the best. For instance,
make six arrangements on the plan of
No. 17. Then choose the best.
The instructor will help in this critical
judgment. The selected drawings may be
still further improved; then stretch Jap-
anese paper smoothly over them and trace
in firm, black ink-lines, with the unaided
hand. Continue the tracing until the draw-
ings are as good as possible in proportion
and the line executed with feeling for ar-
tistic quality.
Avoid hard mechanical lines and all that
savors of rule and compass or laborious
painstaking. Never try to erase an ink
line ; — if a mistake occurs begin a new
tracing.
The examples show a few of the various
ways in which this problem has been
worked out by students and others.
This exercise if carried on under compe-
tent criticism, will have begun in a small
way a development of
1. The Inventive Faculties.
2. Appreciation of Beauty, and
3. Power of Expression,
being purely and wholly an artistic effort.
16
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Page 17
LINE COMPOSITION
II.— VARIATION
THE subject of Variation receives
little or no attention in the ordin-
ary academic course of art educa-
tion, but it is a fundamental idea in this
system.
The great masters of music have shown
the infinite possibilities of combination
and varied expression : — the same theme
appears again and again with new beauty,
with different quality and with complex
accompaniments. Even so can lines,
masses and colors be wrought into musi-
cal forms and endlessly varied. The Jap-
anese color-print exemplifies this, each
copy of the same subject being varied in
shade or hue or disposition of masses to
suit the restless inventive energy of its
author. In old Italian textiles the same
pattern appears repeatedly, but varied in
size, proportion, dark-and-light and color.
The artistic mind is always trying new
ways of expressing a beautiful idea. In
times when art is decadent, the design-
ers and painters lack inventive power and
merely imitate nature or the creations
of others. Then comes Realism, conven-
tionality, and the death of art.
The art education which this book advo-
cates would reveal to the student the
boundless possibilities of his mind, and
teach him to avoid the conventional and
the commonplace. It would show him
that poverty of ideas is no characteristic
of the artist and that no work is of value
unless it expresses the personality of its
creator. That which anybody can do is
not worth doing. If your drawing is just
like your neighbor's it has no value as art.
The work of all masters of fine art is
intensely individual, full charged with
mighty personality. A study of variation
tends to the very opposite of the conven-
tional and the commonplace — to a find-
ing for one's self ever new ways of ex-
pression.
EXERCISE
In the last chapter Variation was intro-
duced, but only in the interior lines, as a
square is not variable. A step beyond this
is to choose a shape where both the
boundary and the interior lines are vari-
able. The Rectangle is one such shape,
— it is self-evident that the modifications
of its proportions can be numberless. The
composition of lines in this shape can be
treated in two ways:
i. The Rectangles being made all of the
same size andproportion, but interior lines
varied, as in No. 18.
2. The same Interior system but the
border varied, as in No. 19.
The instructor chooses some simple ar-
rangement of vertical and horizontal lines
within a rectangle, sketches the idea up-
on the blackboard for the class to draw in
pencil or charcoal, and requires them to
18
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_J L
n r*
1
^.^
N° 18
Page 19
TION
LINE COM- make a number of variations upon it as
POSITION indicated above and in the examples.
]^;~^yARIA' The best designs are to be traced in ink
in lines of equal width throughout.
From previous experience the pupils will
show better judgment in arranging the
lines and areas, and more appreciation of
good proportion. The difference between
a commonplace design and a beautiful
one may be very slight — it can be felt,
but not described.
Study the illustrations given herewith;
use any or all of them as themes for Varia-
tion. This exercise admits of very great
expansion according to the age of pupils
and the limits of time.
EH
HH
Page 20
LINE COMPOSITION
III. — EXAMPLES OF BEAUTIFUL STRAIGHT LINE ARRANGEMENT
AN important part of an art edu-
cation is the coming in contact
■with the best works of art, and get-
ting from them an appreciation of beau-
ty and a stimulus to create. The pupil
too often listens to talk about the sub-
ject of the picture, or the history, de-
rivation and meaning of the design, or
the accuracy and likeness to nature of
the drawing. All these are really either
literary or scientific considerations, and,
while they have their place, touch upon
art only superficially. The most impor-
tant fact relating to a great work of fine
art is that it is beautiful ; and the best way
to help the pupil to see and appreciate that
beauty is to call his attention to it as an
illustration of a principle. Let him see
what a master has done with the very
problem which he is trying to work out.
If you have given him curved line com-
position as a subject, show him one of the
best examples of it that the world has
ever known, — the Victory of Samothrace.
His previous efforts to evolve compo-
sitions of curves will at once give him
the key to an appreciation of the statue.
The purpose of the present exercise is to
show the student how the simple straight-
line beauty of which we have been speak-
ing may appear in things great and small,
fromacathedraltowertoacupboardshelf.
The campanile of the Cathedral of Flor-
ence, No. 20, designed by that master of
architecture and painting, Giotto, is a
rectangular composition of exceeding
beauty. Its charm lies chiefly in its deli-
cately harmonized proportions on a
straight-line scheme. It is a music of
lines and spaces. The areas are largest
at the top, diminishing downwards by
subtle changes and variations. The
graceful mouldings, the window tracery,
the many tones of marble and porphyry,
are but the finish, an embroidery, so to
speak, on the splendid main lines of the
structure.
A Venetian palace of early period, No. 21,
presents this rectangular beauty in an
entirely different way. First, a vertical
line divides the facade into two unequal
but balanced proportions ; each of these
is again divided by horizontal lines and
by windows and balconies into smaller
spaces, the whole forming a perfect har-
mony — each part related to, and affected
by, every other part.
The wall of honor of a Japanese room is
arranged in this same rectangular fashion,
No. 22. A vertical line, as in the Venetian
palace fagade, divides the whole space
into two — one of these is further divided
into shelved recesses, or cabinets with
sliding doors ; the other is for pictures
(kakemono), no more than three of which
are hung at a time.
21
LINE COM-
POSITION
III. — EX-
AMPLES OF
BEAUTIFUL
STRAIGHT
LINE AR-
RANGE-
MENT
No. 23 shows three of these shelf arrange-
ments. As in their other design, the Jap-
anese manifest no end of invention in the
manner of filling this space. They pub-
lish books with hundreds of designs, no
two alike.
EXERCISE
If possible the student should in this case
work from large photographs, but as they
are not always accessible, we give here
tracings from photographs of the build-
ings mentioned, and from the original
Japanese design-books.
Let the pupil copy these examples. In no
better way can he be made to feel their
refinement, and to perceive the art in
them. An attempt to copy brings his
mind for a little time into contact with
that of a superior. He sees the difficulty
of reaching the perfection of the master.
Copying as a means of improving one's
style, and a strengthening of the creative
faculty, is the opposite of copying as a
substitute for original work.
After making the most exact copies pos-
sible (without any measurement what-
ever), the pupil must invent designs of his
own, on the same general plan, but varied
as to the sizes of spaces, etc.
Let him try the Tower and the Palace
with widely differing proportions. Let
him see how many shelf arrangements
he can originate.
This, and all these exercises, may be
summed up in two words :
APPRECIATE
ORIGINATE
N?2.6
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Page 23
LINE COMPOSITION
IV. — LANDSCAPE
I
"^HE modern arbitrary division of
Painting into Representative and
Decorative has tended to put into
In the picture they are not so obvious, be-
ing found in complex interrelations and
concealed under detail.
the background that which we here call The designer and picture-painter start in
Composition, and to bringf orward nature-
imitating as a substitute. The picture-
painter is led to think of likeness to nature
as the most desirable quality for his work,
and the designer talks of "convention-
alising" ; both judging their art by a stand-
ard of Realism rather than of Beauty.
In the world's art epochs there was no
such division. Every work of space-art
was regarded as primarily an arrange-
ment, with Beauty as its raison d'6tre.
Even a portrait was first of all a composi-
tion, with the facts and the truth subordi-
nate to the greater idea of a beauty of aes-
thetic structure. Training in the funda-
mental principles of Composition gavethe
artists a wide field — they were at once
picture-painters, decorators, architects
and sculptors. Giotto could embody his
line-thoughts inglowingcolor on the walls
of churches, or in the ivory-tinted marble
of the peerless Campanile of Florence.
Following this thought of the oneness of
art, we find that the picture, the plan,and
the pattern are alike in the sense that each
is a group of synthetically related spaces.
Abstract design is, as it were, the primer
of painting, in which principles of Compo-
sition appear in a clear and definite form.
the same way. Each has before him a
blank space on which he sketches out the
main lines of his composition. This may
be called his Line-idea, and on it hinges
the excellence of the whole, for no deli-
cacy of tone, or harmony of color can
remedy a bad proportion. A picture, then,
may be said to be in its beginning actu-
ally a pattern of lines. Could the art stu-
dent have this fact in view at the out-
set, it would save him much time and ill—
directedenergy. Nature will notteach him
composition. The sphinx is not more si-
lent than she on this point. He must learn
the secret as Giotto and Francesca, and
Kanawoka and Turner learned it, by the
study of art itself in the works of the
masters, and by continual creative effort.
If students could have a thorough train-
ing in the elements of their prof essionthey
would not fall into the error of supposing
that such a great universal idea as Beauty
of Line could be compressed into a few
cases like the "triangle," "bird's-wing,"
"line of beauty," or "scroll ornament,"
nor would they take these notions as a
kind of receipt for composing the lines of
pictures.
Insistence upon the placing of Arrange-
24
ment or Composition above Representa-
tion must not be considered as any under-
valuation of the latter. The student may
learn nature's forms, colors and effects,
and how to represent them; he needs to
know the properties of pigments, how to
handle brushes and materials, perhaps the
laws of perspective and anatomy. More
or less of this knowledge and skill will be
required in his career, but they are only
helps to art, not substitutes for it, and we
believe, as stated in the introduction to
this book, that if he begins with Compo-
sition, that is, with a study of art itself,
he will acquire these naturally, as he feels
the need of them.
Returning now to our premise that the
picture and the abstract design may show
the same structural beauty, let us see how
the simple idea of combiningstraightlines,
as so far considered, may be illustrated by
Landscape. Looking out from a grove we
have trees as vertical straight lines, cut-
ting lineshorizontal or nearly so. Leaving
small forms out of account we have in
these main lines an arrangement of rec-
tangular spaces much like the gingham
and other simple patterns. This then is
one kind of beauty of landscape. To be-
come more familiar with it, see the fol-
lowing:
EXERCISE
No. 24 is a landscape reduced to its sim-
plest lines, all detail being omitted.
First make an enlarged copy of this. (In
this way one works for proportion only,
and cannot slavishly imitate. The same
end is gained by making a reduced copy
of a large drawing.) Then — to experience
the creation of fine rectangular propor-
tions in landscape, and the setting of the
subject into a space — arrange this in rec-
tangles of varying shape, some nearly
square, others tall, others long and narrow
horizontally, as in No. 25. To bring the
whole landscape into all these will not, of
course, be possible, but in each the essen-
tial lines must be retained in order not to
change the subject.
Pupils should draw this exercise in ink
after preliminary studies with pencil or
charcoal, refining the proportions and
correcting errors by tracing.
Then they may find in nature a similar
subject, sketch it, and vary it in the same
way.
It should be clearly understood that we
are here using landscape merely as an il-
lustration. The art of landscape painting
is a special subject, not to be treated here,
but we believe that the true way to ap-
proach it is through these or similar ex-
ercises.
First study the art, then apply it, whether
to landscape or any other kind of expres-
sion.
LINE COM-
POSITION
IV. — LAND.
SCAPE
25
WIS
(see p. 15)
^s^prra
,j.
\ . v. „.
Page 26
LINE COMPOSITION
V.— EXAMPLES OF PICTURES COMPOSED ON
RECTANGULAR LINES
GREAT architects and designers
were not the only ones to use this
simple line-idea — the masters of
pictorial art have based upon it some of
their best work.
No. 26 is a sketch from Whistler's " Bat-
tersea Bridge." It has but two principal
lines, cutting the space into rectangles of
beautiful proportion.
Puvis de Chavannes, in his mural paint-
ings, expresses solemnity, majesty and
repose by the vertical lines of his Elysian
groves, cutting the level silhouettes or
long horizontally sweeping curves. No.
27.
Hiroshige, the best of the later Japanese
landscape composers, a man of inex-
haustible inventive power, often uses the
rectangular idea. Nos. 28 and 29. None
of these examples need further explana-
tion. They are beautiful, even when di-
vested of color and dark-and-light, be-
cause they are built upon a few straight
lines, finely related, and a few delicately
proportioned areas. .-
EXERCISE
These examples can be treated in the fol-
lowing manner: —
1. Copy exactly — as nearly as can be done
by the eye, without measurement.
2. Draw enlarged, keeping the same rela-
tive proportions.
3. Vary each of them by changing the
proportion of the boundary and interior
lines.
4. Find in nature a similar subject, and
make many original compositions.
Draw all the best in ink, as usual.
Cut No. 27
27
Hjposhige (tr&cei *!•.(,. a tolore A (>ri»t) N?28
TK« AniiiuMUAtioft , Puro dtlta Fr«ncesc4. (tracing)
.H«w!iig» «.«««««»■.»* j»mi >•.«!> NU?
Page 28
H«roJ'l tfiSt . fr«lco (y Cl'ottO ftr.o.g)
Five examples of rectdngulAi- composition, (Ste.V. p*s*n)
St«Tt* <r»p« « p«i*re by Wfcoffcr N?£6
LINE COMPOSITION
VI.— REPETITION — OBLIQUE LINES
WE have thus far kept to one way
of putting straight lines together,
and we have found even that
one to offer almost unlimited possibili-
ties. There are at least seven other
principles of straight-line composition,
each of which would open a new series
as vast as the one we have already con-
sidered.
For instance, Repetition, the rhythmical
arrangement of lines at regular intervals,
as in borders and surface patterns; or at
irregular intervals, as in the kind of land-
scape shown in Nos. 31, 32 and 33. Repe-
tition is a line-music of a very different
character from that wehavesofar studied.
It is, perhaps, the oldest form of design ;
the savage uses it when he ornaments his
pottery with rows of straight marks.
Fro^mfnT* of Indian pottery found at IjjjwUh M«>J.
The development of this kind of composi-
tion is taken up in connection with Dark-
and-Light, in Section XIV. Consult also
the illustrations of Sections X and XI.
It is not necessary for the present to dis-
cuss more than one other way of compos-
ing straight-lines. Leaving the rectangu-
lar scheme, we will consider two uses of
the Oblique line. Sometimes it softens a
right angle, thus evolving the whole race
of brackets and corner ornaments, in
architecture, patterns, and decorations.
Nos. 34, 35, etc.
Sometimes it is brought in in triangles, or
combined with the rectangle, as in the
pavements of Italian churches, and Ara-
bic and other' designs, Nos. 36, 37 and 38.
See illustrations of Section X.
EXERCISE
The oblique line only will be studied here.
First copy the examples of brackets, and
all the designs where an oblique line is
drawn or suggested for the sake of soften-
ing a right angle. Then find other exam-
ples in photograph, cast, books, buildings,
or textiles, and make drawings of them,
expressing the principle without useless
detail. That is, reduce the examples to as
few lines as possible.
Then make a series of original designs.
A second part of this exercise may be the
composing of oblique line patterns in the
spirit of the pavements of Italian churches
29
LINE COM-
POSITION
VI. — REPE-
TITION-
OBLIQUE
LINES
— the line-music of the little pieces of
marble arranged in a mosaic of fine pro-
portions. A good photograph of the
pavement of St. Mark's, Venice, or that
of the Cathedral of Murano, with a de-
scription of their richness of tone and
color, would demonstrate to the student
how great an art may lie in these appar-
ently simple beginnings. Those design-
ers had, perhaps, only the chips of white
marble, of red and green porphyry, left
by the builders of the church, but being
familiar with the elements of art, with
beauty of Line, Dark-and-Light and
Color, they arranged their chips into beau-
tiful patterns that may well be ranked as
art of a high order.
//.
y£
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Xd
Page 30
N?34
W35
A/\/
M?27 ^our 't4,i<1B f'vement*
(triced from photography
N°38
<U>w<U
Page 3t
LINE COMPOSITION
VII.— LANDSCAPE ARRANGEMENT
IN Section IV the landscape was con-
structed on a rectangular line-scheme
for the special purpose of emphasizing
the intimate relation between elementary
abstract design and pictorial design. The
examples given in Section V showed the
student the dignity and importance of
these simple ideas of composition by let-
ting him see how great artists have used
them. Incidentally these lessons gave a
clue to the appreciation of one class of
pictorial art (including some Japanese
prints), which might otherwise remain
unrevealed for a long time.
The student must, however, be warned
against mistaking a mere geometric com-
bination of lines for an aesthetic combi-
nation. There is no special virtue in a rec-
tangular scheme or any other in itself; it
is the treatment of it that makes it art or
not art. Many a commonplace architect
has designed a tower similar to Giotto's,
and many a dauber of oil paint has con-
structed a wood interior on a line-plan re-
sembling that of Puvis. So the mere do-
ing of the work recommended here will
be of little value if the only thought is to
get over the ground, or if the mind is in-
tent upon names rather than principles.
The doing of it well, with an artistic pur-
pose in mind, is the true way and the on-
ly way to develop the creative faculties.
Another reason for introducing landscape
here is to offset the doctrine of the nature-
imitators that accurate representation is
a virtue of highest order and to be at-
tained in the beginning. It is undeniably
serviceable, but to start with it is to begin
at the wrong end. It is not the province
of the landscape painter merely to repre-
sent trees, hills and houses — so much
topography — but to express an emotion,
and this he must do by art. His art will
be manifest in his composition, in his
placing of his trees, hills and houses in
synthetic relations to each other and to
the space-boundary. Here is the strength
of George Inness ; to this he gave his chief
effort. He omits detail, and rarely does
more than to indicate the forms of things
by a few touches.
This relation among the parts of a com-
position is what we call Beauty, and it
begins to exist with the first few lines
drawn. Even the student may express a
little of it if he feels it, and the attempt to
embody it in lines on paper will surely
lead to a desire to know more fully the
character and shapes of things. A young
pupil who had been working in this way,
said, " I don't know how to draw trees, but
I mean to learn at once." She had the
ideas ; the effort to put them forth led her
to seek a knowledge of drawing with en-
thusiasm and pleasure.
This case is but one of multitudes in my
32
Page 33
LINE COM-
POSITION
VII. — LAND-
SCAPE
ARRANGE-
MENT
experience, witnessing to the soundness
of the philosophy which underlies this
system and offsetting that shallow saying
of the realists, " It is time enough to think
of composition after you can draw."
EXERCISE
The problem in this section is to be, in ac-
cordance with our progressive series, a
step in advance of the one in Section IV.
Leaving the rectangular idea, take any
landscape that has some good elements
in it, reduce it to a few main lines and
strive to present it in the most beautiful
way — for example the one in No. 39, or
one drawn by the instructor, or even a
tracing from a photograph. Remember
that the aim is not to represent a place,
nor to get good drawing now; put those
thoughts out of the mind and try only to
cut a space finely by landscape shapes;
the various lines in your subject combine
to enclose spaces, and the art in your
composition will lie in placing these
spaces in beautiful relationsto each other.
Here must come in the personal influence
of the instructor, which is, after all, the
very core of all art teaching. He can
bring the pupils up to the height of his
own appreciation, and perhaps no far-
ther. The best of systems is valueless
without this personal artistic guidance.
At this stage of landscape composition,
the idea of Grouping can be brought in, as
a help in arranging sizes and shapes.
There is a certain beauty existing in a con-
trast of large and small. It is the opposite
of Monotony. For instance, compare a
street where there is variety in the sizes
of buildings and trees, with another of
rows of dull ugly tenement blocks.
Ranges of hills, spires and pinnacles,
clumps of large and small trees, clusters
of haystacks, or even the disposition of
things on a mantel, will serve to illustrate
this idea.
Beware of making a universal rule out of
this sort of composition (i.e. principal and
subordinate), for there is another kind of
beauty exactly opposite, in whichthe parts
are all alike, or nearly so ; for example,
rows of willows, or Nos. 31, 32 and 33, in
Section VI.
To discover the best arrangement, and to
get the utmost experience in lineand space
composition, the landscape should be set
into many boundaries of differing propor-
tions, as in Section IV, and as shown in
the examples, keeping the essential lines
of the subject, but varying them to fit the
boundary. For instance, a tree may be
made taller in a high vertical space than
in a low horizontal space.
After working out this exercise the pupil
may draw a landscape from nature and
treat it in the same way. Let him rigor-
ously exclude detail, drawing only the
outlines of objects.
34
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Page 35
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
VIII. — NOTAN
WE have considered the subject of
Line in a very general way, and
must leave it at this point, post-
poning for the present a detailed study of
the separate principles, also the whole
subject of Curved Line, and the compo-
sition of other varieties of Line except as
they appear in the landscapes, flowers
and patterns of these exercises.
It has already been stated that beauty in
painting is manifested in three ways,
namely by
LINE
DARK-AND-LIGHT
COLOR
We have now to consider the second of
these elements, Dark-and-Light. There
is no one word in English comprehensive
enough to express what is here meant by
this hyphened phrase, but as the Japanese
have brought so much of this kind of beau-
ty to our art we may well use their word
for it, Notan. Besides, the adoption of a
single word, and anew one, servesto em-
phasize our characterization of it as a
great aesthetic element. Thus the Notan
of a pattern or a picture is the arrange-
ment of the dark and light masses. Artists
often employ the word " spotting " in this
sense, and sometimes the more indefinite
word " effect," while "wash-out" desig-
nates in studio slang the lack of this ele-
ment.
The Orientals, who have never consid-
ered the representation of shadows as
of serious importance, have recognized
Notan as a special and vital part of the
art of painting, to be studied for its own
sake, a field for creative activity entirely
distinct from Line or Color. Some of
their schools discarded color, and for
ages painted in ink, so mastering Notan
as to attract the admiration, and pro-
foundly influence the art of the western
world.
Yet so firmly is our art embedded in the
traditions of the nature-imitators, that
Dark-and-Light is not considered in
school curricula, except in its limited ap-
plication to the representation of things.
The study of " light and shade " has for
its aim, not the creation of a beautiful
idea in terms of contrasting masses of
light and dark, but merely the accurate
rendering of certain facts of nature, —
hence is a scientific rather than an ar-
tistic exercise. The pupil who begins in
this way will be embarrassed in advanced
work by lack of experience in arranging
and differentiating tones. Worse than
that, it tends to cut him off from the ap-
preciation of one whole class of great
works of art. As in the case of Line, so
again in this is manifest the narrowness
and weakness of the scheme of nature-
imitating as a foundation for art educa-
36
tion. The Realistic standard has tended,
and ever will tend, to the decay of
art.
To attain an appreciation of Notan, and
power to create with it, the following
fundamental fact must be understood,
namely, that a placing together of masses
of dark and light, synthetically related,
conveys to the eye an impression of
beauty entirely independent of meaning.
For example, squares of dark porphyry
against squares of light marble, checks in
printed cloth, and blotty ink sketches by
the Venetians, the Dutch, and the Jap-
anese.
When this occurs accidentally in nature,
as in the case of a grove of dark trees
against a light hillside, or a pile of dark
buildings against a twilight sky, we at
once perceive its beauty, and say that the
scene is " picturesque." This quality,
which makes the natural scene a good
subject for a picture, is analogous to mu-
sic. Truthful drawing and "conscien-
tiousness" would have nothing to do with
an artist's rendering of this. This is the
kind of " visual music " which the Jap-
anese so love in the rough ink painting
of their old masters, where there is but a
mere hint of facts.
Claude Lorraine and Corot, in the West,
Kakei and Sesshu in the East, owe the
light of their skies and the mystery of
their groves to an appreciation of the
refinements of Notan. The etchers, the
illustrators, and the practical designers
are equally dependent upon it.
The modern art student, feeling the
necessity of a knowledge of Dark-and-
Light when he begins to make original
compositions, has open to him but one
resource, that of sketching the "spotting"
as he calls it, of good designs and pic-
tures, — see page 53 and Section XIX, —
an excellent practice, if followed under-
standing^. I believe that the difficulty
may be overcome :
1. 43y acknowledging Notan as an ele-
ment distinct from Line or Color.
2. By attempting its mastery by progres-
sive stages which shall lead to apprecia-
tion.
As in the case of Line, isolate its simplest
manifestations, create with them, and
then proceed onward to the higher prob-
lems.
DARK-AND-
LIGHT COM-
POSITION
VIII.—
NOTAN
37
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
IX. — NOTAN OF LINE
AS long as the lines of a design are
kept of uniform width, the beauty
is limited to proportion of areas
and quality of touch, but widen some of
the lines, and at once appears a new
grace, Dark-and- Light. The textile de-
signers who are restricted to straight
lines, have recourse to this principle.
They widen lines, vary their depth of
tone, glorify them with color, and show
that what seems a narrow field is really
one of wide range.
EXERCISE
Choose some of the previous geometric
line patterns, and widen certain of the
lines, as illustrated in the plate. Inciden-
tally this will give good brush practice,
as the lines are to be drawn at one stroke.
Push the point of the brush down to the
required width, then draw the line. Try
a large number of arrangements, set them
up in a row and pick out the best.
In choosing and criticising, remember
that every part of a work of art has some-
thingto say. If one part is made so promi-
nent that the others have no reason for
being there, the art is gone. So in this
case; if one line asserts itself to the detri-
ment of the others, there is discord. There
maybe many or few lines, but each must
have its part in the whole.
In a word, wholeness is essential to beau-
ty ; it distinguishes Music from Noise.
(**N<M6 >«s«n
NMt
i
N'47.
J
Page 38
EXAMPLES
OF NOTAN
(See Section VIII)
No. 40. — Sesshu (see Sections VIII and XXIV, also pages 9 and 10)
No. 42. — Kakei
No. 41. — Yofu (Sesshu school)
Page 39
Ha.i-pi_gnies N? 45 Daubi^ny
V^ompositioMS by various masters, showing' Not&n arrangement (Sections v III , XIX, also page Si )
Page 40
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
NOTAN OF TWO TONES — STRAIGHT-LINE PATTERNS
THE last chapter treated of the
transition from Line to Dark-and-
Light by means of Notan of Line.
In this we enter in good earnest upon a
study of this important element, working
from simple to complicated.
As in the case of Line, there may be many
starting points. One might begin by blot-
ting ink or charcoal upon paper, by copy-
ing the darks and lights from photographs
of masterpieces, etc., but we will select the
straight-line pattern and the flat black ink
wash as more in harmony with our series,
and a starting point that experience has
proved to be satisfactory.
The aim must be to feel and under-
stand Notan as something by which beau-
ty may be created, hence it is best to avoid
Representation at first — not to confound
Notan with " light and shade," " model-
ling," or anything that refers to the imi-
tation of natural objects.
Having found a straight-line pattern
which is fine in its proportions, we will
add to it this new kind of beauty, and as
much of it as can be expressed by the ex-
tremes of Notan, black against white. It
is apparent that we cannot reduce Dark-
and-Lightto simpler terms than these two
tones.
The beginner may imagine that not much
can be done with flat black against flat
white, but let him examine the decorative
design of the world. He will find the black
andwhite check andpatterns derived from
it, in old velvets of Japan, in the woven
and printed textiles of all nations, in mar-
ble floors, inlaid boxes and architectural
ornament. Departing from straight line,
the use of these two simple tones is as
universal as Art itself. They appear in
the black vine on the white marble floor
of the Church of the Miracoli at Venice ;
on the wall of the Arabian Mosque, and
the frieze of the Chinese temple. They
have come into favor on book covers and
page borders. Aubrey Beardsley went
scarcely beyond them. R. Anning Bell
and other artists have boldly carried them
into pictorial work in the illustration of
children's books.
These facts will demonstrate to the be-
ginner that no terms are too simple for
artistic genius to use. Moreover a lim-
ited field often stimulates to greater in-
ventive activity.
EXERCISE
The principle of Variation comes into this
exercise with special force, for each line-
design admits of several Notan arrange-
ments. The student should be given at
first a pattern with few lines. Let him
draw it from the instructor's sketch, or
get it in any way that seems best, but the
essential point is to have his design as
good as possible in space-proportion be-
41
DARK-AND-
LIGH COM-
POSITION
X.— NOTAN
OF TWO
TONES —
STRAIGHT-
LINE PAT-
TERNS
fore he begins to add the ink wash. Hav- warn the students that mere inventive ac-
ing once obtained a good pencil drawing, tion is not art. Any one can, with pa-
let him make several tracings from it, and tience, evolve a multitude of straight-line
then darken certain spaces with clear shapes that may serve in a rug border.
black ink. A round Japanese brush,
short and thick, will be needed for this
work.
The examples show how this kind of
problem has been handled.
RUGS
The Oriental rug suggests an excellent
line-scheme for practice in Notan. For-
tunately the Mohammedanshave escaped
the delusions of Realism, being forbidden
by their religion to represent in their art
any natural form. Their genius must
express itself in abstract line — the geo-
metric pattern — but they have Notan
and color to help them.
Let the student design a rug with border
and centre, the shapes to be pure inven-
tions, with no reference whatever to na-
ture. The border must be made to differ
from the centre ; this can be accomplished
in many ways, even with black and
white.
For instance :
Border r Black figures on white ground.
Centre : White figures on black ground.
Border : White figures on black ground.
Centre : Black figures on white ground.
Border : Small figures.
Centre : One large figure.
Border : Large figures.
Centre : Small surface pattern, etc.
Copying the design of some good rug
would be valuable practice preliminary to
this exercise.
The instructor will find it necessary to
No end of grotesque and ugly designs can
be produced. The teacher must guide
the young mind to perceive the difference
between creating beautiful patterns, and
mere fantastic play.
In like manner those little gifted with
aesthetic perception may go far astray in
following the two-tone idea. It is very
easy and somewhat fascinating to darken
parts of designs with black ink. The late
poster craze showed to what depth of vul-
garity this can be carried. The pupil must
be taught that all two-tone arrangements
are not fine, and that the very purpose
of this exercise is to so develop his ap-
preciation that he maybe able to tell the
difference between the good, the com-
monplace, and the ugly. His only guide
must be his own innate taste, and his
instructor's experience,
4*
mtm
♦•♦•♦
■♦■
Page 43
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
XL — TWO TONES— VARIATION
BEAUTY of Line must underlie
every Notan composition, and it
should be said in this connection
that beauty of Notan must underlie every
color composition. The three elements
have the closest relation to one another.
For purposes of study, however,itis neces-
sary to isolate each element, and even the
separate principles of each.
In the present instance, Notan can be
separated from Line, that is, the student's
attention can be concentrated on Dark-
and-Light only, by taking one line-de-
sign of acknowledged excellence and
making many Notan variations of it; be-
ing sure of Beauty of Line, the only
problem is to create Beauty of Notan.
Here, again, the so-called " historic or-
nament " can be used for its own inher-
ent beauty, not for the study of a " style."
These works of art are available to the
beginner in five ways: the objects them-
selves, photographs, photographic repro-
ductions, casts, and tracings. The litho-
graphic illustrations and rude wood cuts
in some books of design, being produced
by mechanical, painstaking minds, are
useless for our purpose here. They give
no hint of the quality of the original. If
the actual painting on an Egyptian mum-
my case is compared with a page of one
of these books, the poor quality of the
latter is instantly apparent. Chinese and
Japanese "ornament" in most of such
books is of the most flamboyant and de-
cadent order.
The facsimile copies of Greek vases usu-
ally belong in this same category. On the
other hand, these works of the mechani-
cal copyist are of some use to persons
familiar with the originals, or to those
who can translate these hints of schemes
into designs of their own.
The illustrations to this section are Notan
variations on a Chinese fret, chosen for
its excellent straight-line composition,
and good proportion.
With these are shown similar variations
of old textiles. Though we are not tak-
ing up Curved Line, it has been thought
best to introduce these here as sugges-
tions of ways of studying these beautiful
relics of the art of past ages.
The student sketches or traces the out-
line of the textile pattern, and tries to
discover how many fine two-tone ar-
rangements can be made with it.
44
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Page 45
FLOWER COMPOSITION
XII. — LINE, AND NOTAN OF TWO TONES
FLOWERS, by their great variety of
line and proportion, are particularly
valuable, as well as convenient sub-
jects for elementary composition. Their
forms and colors have furnished themes
for painters and sculptors since the be-
ginning of Art, and the treatment has
ranged from abstractions to extreme real-
ism ; from the refinements of lotus-de-
rived friezes to the poppy and rose wall-
papers of the present time.
In the exercise here suggested, there
is no intention of making a design to ap-
ply to anythingas decoration, hence there
need be no question as to the amount of
nature's truth to be introduced. The
flower may be rendered realistically, as
in some Japanese design, or reduced to
an abstract suggestion, as in the Greek,
without in the least affecting the purpose
in view, namely, the setting of its lines
into a space in such a way that beauty
shall result — in other words, making it
serve as a subject for a composition ex-
ercise.
It is essential that the space should be
cut by the main lines. A small spray in
the middle of a big oblong, or discon-
nected groups of flowers, cannot be called
compositions ; all the lines and areas must
be related one to another by connec-
tions and placings, so as to form a beau-
tiful whole. Not a picture of a flower is
sought, — that can be left to the botanist —
but rather an irregular pattern of lines
and spaces, something far beyond the
mere drawing of a flower from nature and
laying an oblong over it, or vice versa.
EXERCISE
The instructor draws a flower in large
firm outlines on the blackboard, avoiding
confusing detail, and giving the charac-
ter as simply as possible. The pupil first
copies the instructor's drawing, then he
decides upon the shape into which to
compose this subject — a square or rec-
tangle will be best for the beginner. He
makes several trial arrangements rough-
ly, with pencil or charcoal. Having cho-
sen the best of these, he improves and
refines them, first on his trial paper, and
later by tracing with brush and ink on
thin Japanese paper. Effort must be con-
centrated on the arrangement, not on
botanical correctness.
Many line compositions can be derived
from one flower subject, but each of these
can in turn be made the source of a great
variety of designs by carrying the exer-
cise farther, into the field of Dark-and-
Light. Paint certain of the areas black,
and at once a whole new series suggests
itself, from a single line design. To the
beauty of the line is added the beauty of
opposing and intermingling masses of
black and white.
46
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Page 48
In this part of the exercise the arrange-
ment of shapes of light with shapes of
dark, occupies the attention, rather than
shading, or the rendering of shadows.
Hence the flowers and leaves and stems,
or parts of them, may be black or white,
according to the feeling of the student.
Let him choose out of his several draw-
ings those which he considers best. The
instructor can then criticise, pointing out
the best and the worst, and explaining
why they are so. A mere aimless or
mechanical blackening of paper, without
effort to arrange, will result in nothing
of value.
The examples show the variety of effects
produced by flowers of different shapes,
and the beauty resulting from schemes
of Dark-and- Light in two tones. Pupils
might profitably copy some of these, en-
larging them ; but only for preliminary
practice. The instructor will, of course,
use his own subject matter.
FLOWER
COMPOSI-
TION
XII.— LINE,
ANDNOTAN
OF TWO
TONES
49
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
XIII.— NOTAN OF LANDSCAPE —TWO TONES
fTr-^HE student has already experi-
enced the composition of two
-™- tones with geometric line-design
and flower-shapes ; a step farther brings
him to the important subject of Dark-and-
Light as an element of Pictorial Art.
We must again emphasize the distinction
between Light-and-Shadow, Light-and-
Shade,and that which we here call Notan.
Light-and-Shadow, a phenomenon con-
nected with sunshine, can be expressed in
pictorial art by means of Notan. That is,
a combination of lights and shadows in
nature is available to the artist only when
their shapes occur in, or suggest, a beauti-
ful arrangement ; when they form, as it
were, a pattern, or, as some would say,
when they are " decorative." (This word
is only a misleading circumlocution for
" beautiful.") The student who is under
the guidance of the academic phrase,
" Paint what you see, and as you see it,"
feels that he must represent faithfully
every accidental shadow, "just as it is
in nature," or else be false to art and false
to himself. He discovers later that such
accurate rendering is only permissible in
studies and sketches; that no accidents
enter into pictures, but every line, every
light, and every dark are a part of a delib-
erate design.
Light-and-Shadeisatermreferringmain-
ly to the modelling of things, or the imita-
tion of solidity. The study of it, as usually
pursued in the schools by the drawing of
white casts or still-life, tends to concen-
trate the students' attention upon the
Representation of facts rather than the
production of beauty. It does not help
them to comprehend the aesthetic quality
of, for instance, a charcoal sketch by
William Morris Hunt. Moreover, to
spend so much effort upon modelling is
of doubtful value, for Painting is essen-
tially the art of two dimensions.
When a painter makes roundness and
solidity the chief aim of his work, he goes
outside of his art and enters the province
of his brother, the sculptor. In the best
painting, for example, Giotto's frescoes at
Assisi, Piero della Francesca's at Arezzo,
Masaccio's " Tribute Money," the com-
positions of Vivarini, Bellini and Titian,
and even the Strozzi portrait by Raphael,
the modelling is entirely subordinate to
the greater elements of proportion and
Dark-and-Light.
In a mural painting extreme roundness is
a fatal defect ; a striking illustration is af-
forded in the Pantheon at Paris, where
Puvis de Chavannes and his contempo-
raries have put their compositions on the
walls. Puvis thought of his painting
there as primarily a mosaic of colored
shapes, whose mission was first of all to
make the wall beautiful. No one thinks
50
Page 51
DARK-AND-
LIGHT COM-
POSITION
XIII.— NO-
TAN OF
LANDSCAPE
— TWO
TONES
at first of the subject that he has put there,
but all are charmed with the harmonies
of line, tone, and color, the poetry and
illusion of his landscape. The other
painters seem to have thought mainly of
modelling; of making their figures stand
out solidly ; and the result is that the be-
holder does not perceive the wall, or any
suggestion of composition, but is entirely
occupied with the sculpturesque reality
of the painting. Soon he is confused by
it and turns away unsatisfied.
But we do not wish to be misunderstood
as advocating the entire omission of sha-
dows, or of modelling — certain subjects
may require their use — but the flat rela-
tions are of first importance ; in them must
lie the art of the painting.
Allusion has been made to the art stu-
dents' practice of copying the darks from
pictures, or the " spotting," as they call
it. This is really studying Notan in two
tones. To more fully define its purpose
we give a few examples. No. 49 is a set
of sketches from well-known masters
showing the arrangement of Dark-and-
Light reduced to two tones. This will give
a hint of these artists' conception of the
element of Notan, and it becomes more
evident where translated into two tones.
In Section XIX will be found some Jap-
anese examples of the same thing. So
interested were the Japanese in this kind
of composition that they sketched and
published in books the "spotting" of their
great masters. Some of these books, par-
ticularly early ones of the period Genroku,
are exceedingly beautiful.
EXERCISE
Give the student as a theme a landscape
in line only, with no border. It should
be simple, but with a variety of large and
small spaces. Let this be handled in two
ways:
1. The student sets it into a border, and
when its proportions are satisfactory he
traces it on several sheets of paper and
tries the effect of painting certain spaces
black. Some subjects are capable of a
great many two-tone arrangements, but
not all will be fine. Not number is re-
quired, but beauty.
2. Compose the landscape into borders
of different proportions, then vary each
of these with two tones.
The illustrations sufficiently explain both
these ways of working.
No. 50 illustrates nine arrangements of
one subject.
After using the examples here given, the
student may sketch a landscape from na-
ture, and after its line-composition has
been criticised, let him vary it in two
tones.
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Pag« 55
BORDERS & SURFACE PATTERNS
XIV.— LINE AND NOTAN OF TWO TONES
IN Section VI Repetition was men-
tioned as one principle by which line-
music may be composed; a simple
kind of beauty to which even the savage
gives expression, instinctively, by rows
of lines upon his pottery or his blankets.
(See No. 30, page 29). That primitive
pattern easily developes into the design
known as the "meander" or "Greek
fret," one of the oldest ornamental de-
vices. Its severe beauty is found in per-
fection in Greek design ; but the Egyp-
tians, Chinese, Aztecs, and others, the
world over, have evolved innumerable
variations of this straight-line theme.
EXERCISE
The problem before the student is the
production of a rhythmical beauty in
terms of straight line, to which shall
afterward be added the beauty of Dark-
and- Light.
The exercise may be carried out in two
ways:
1. Taking as elements a row of straight
marks, or lines and dots, | • | • | • | • | • | •
develope, by means of repetition, both
borders and surface patterns. No. 51 il-
lustrates the manner of working. In this
part of the exercise no area is enclosed by
the lines ; the beauty is that of a rhyth-
mical marking off of space. This kind of
design is particularly adapted to textile
fabrics.
2. From the same row of marks, I
develope the meander as a border or a
surface pattern. (No. 52.) Taking a sug-
gestion from the Arabic designers, com-
bine the lines in triangular, or irregular,
arrangements. (No. 53.)
The Chinese fret in Section XI is an ex-
ample of the second kind of composition.
Beware of mere invention, without ap-
preciation. To multiply marks on paper
is just as easy as to drum on the piano.
Repetition in itself does not constitute
beauty; witness the bad wall-papers and
other debased design — repetition of the
meanest kind.
Invention is desirable, but a great num-
ber of designs thoughtlessly produced
will be of no value. First make sure
that the unit or the theme which you in-
tend to repeat is itself beautiful. If it is
composed of a few lines, see that they are
well proportioned, one to the other, and
delicately spaced. Then you may use
Repetition to give a subtle quality of
musical movement.
The line patterns may be translated into
two tones. (See No. 54, etc.)
56
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Page 57
FLOWER COMPOSITION
XV.— BORDERS IN TWO TONES
FLOWER composition was consid-
ered in Section XII purely as an ex-
ercise in the arrangement of shapes,
with no reference to Applied Design.
In this section, while arrangement is still
the main point, the student can have in
mind some practical use of the designs,
either as borders, or head- and tail-pieces
for books. But it is not necessary to take
into account here all the limitations which
such application might involve, as, for in-
stance, the special handling for photo-
graphic reproduction, the disposition of
masses required in perforated woodwork
(to make it hold together) or the peculiar
treatment of a stencil pattern. All these
things can be considered by the student
after he has had experience in art. If he
has the art, its application will not be dif-
ficult; it is enough for him now to let the
practical problem suggest a style of com-
position. In this case he may choose a
long parallelogram, and work in both
Line and Notan.
EXERCISE
The examples accompanying this exer-
cise illustrate the idea suggested. These
compositions can be worked out in char-
coal or ink. Many small rough sketches
or plans of the arrangement should be
made first and the best of these chosen
for further elaboration.
If desirable the single composition may
be considered as a unit in a repeating
border-pattern. The instructor should
show the class how this kind of design
has been used in magazines and other
publications as a page-ornament.
Page 59
FLOWER COMPOSITION
XVI. — TWO TONES— JAPANESE EXAMPLES
DEMONSTRATION by means of
illustration is always a powerful
means of impressing an idea upon
the mind. In teaching young pupils the
simple elements of composition, good ex-
amples are most essential.
Would that time had preserved for us the
sketch-books of Phidias, of Giotto, of the
architect of St. Mark's, of the great de-
signers of textiles, buildings, and pictures.
These are, for the most part, lost; the few
scraps remaining are stored in museums.
But the art of the East comes to our as-
sistance with its sketch-books, its colored
prints, and its paintings. The Japanese
know of no such divisions as Represen-
tative and Decorative ; they conceive of
painting as the art of two dimensions; an
art in which roundness and nature-imita-
tion are subordinate to the flat relations.
As in pre- Renaissance times in Europe,
the education of the Japanese artist is
founded upon composition. A thorough
grounding in fundamental principles
gives him the utmost freedom in design-
ing. He loves nature and goes to her for
his subjects, but he does not imitate. The
winding brook with wild iris (p. 37), the
roadside weeds, the pebbles on the river-
shore, are to him themes for his art, but he
translates them into arrangements of
Line, or Dark-and-Light, or Color. They
are so many motifs for the division of a
space into beautiful proportions, for har-
monious line-systems, or sparkling inter-
weavings of black and white. We are
speaking now of the real art of Japan.
The modern cheap imitation, the de-
graded commercial "art," made for the
foreign market must be avoided.
The examples here given are reproduced
from Japanese works of the best period,
and from sheets of ancient designs. Their
refinement of proportion, beauty of line-
combination, strong drawing, and bril-
liancy of Notan need no comment.
Let the student enlarge them and vary
their proportions. These will suggest to
him one way of looking at nature, and of
translating her beauty into the language
of art.
Page 61
BOOK COVERS, TITLE PAGES AND
LETTERS
XVII. — LINE AND NOTAN OF TWO TONES
BOOK cover is a
problem in rectang-
ular arrangement.
Whatever be the de-
sign placed upon it,
the first question is
the division into
beautiful propor-
tions. See Sections I, II, III, etc.
Lettering may be considered as a
tracery of Line or a pattern of Dark-and-
Light ; in fact it is itself a design, and
the dignified beauty of simple lettering
is often a sufficient ornament for a book
cover. In any case the letters occupy a
certain space, which must be well-pro-
portioned. Above all, they must be
clear and intelligible. Extravagance in
lettering should be avoided, but variation
is possible. Each letter may be reduced
to its elements (as A to a set of three
lines), and these varied like any line
design. The title page, for our purpose
here, is essentially the same problem as
the cover.
NITIALS are a part of the
Notan-scheme of a book-page.
Considering the text as a gray
tone, combined with a white
margin, the initial comes between the
two as a sort of focal point or accent,
like the sharp touches of black in ancient
Japanese ink-painting (see pages n and
39.) The initial itself is usually a com-
position in a somewhat square-shaped
space — a useful subject for students if
the scale be large.
EXERCISE
TU DENTS should make many
small preliminary sketches for
book covers, not attempting a
large drawing till a definite and
satisfactory plan of arrangement has
been reached. Let them study good
examples in the libraries. Reproduc-
tions or photographs of the fine old
bindings will be valuable illustrations
of dignity of style.
62
mass
THE
IMAGINARY
MAGAZINE
A Collection of Designs
for Book Illustrations
hy Composition Class v**^
of Pratt Institute. %/•«>•%/•
IVo. I, December,
MDCCC XC VIII.
CA.C
Author
Page 63
BOOK-PAGE COMPOSITION
XVIII. — TWO TONES— LANDSCAPE
THE art in book illustration lies
not so much in "telling a story"
as in beautifying the page. The
page is a space into which the illustra-
tion is to be set ; a problem of Line and
Dark-and- Light, whose successful work-
ing out depends upon the illustrator's
experience in composition. If the pic-
torial design is to have a rectangular
boundary line, the setting of it upon the
page is a matter of simple rectangular
composition, as in Section II. If it is to
be of irregular shape, its edges require
special attention that their lines may be
harmonious and may blend well with
the type.
As a beginning in illustration the student
ought first to practice setting an outline
landscape upon a page, following this
with the use of two tones (black and
white). No. 55 exemplifies the outline
work. No. 56, two tones with border.
No. 57, two tones with no border.
Page 64
LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION
XIX.— TWO TONES — JAPANESE EXAMPLES
ALLUSION has already been made
to the Japanese ink compositions
(Section VIII), and Nos. 40, 41,
and 42, are photographic reproductions of
ink paintings by some of their masters.
The two-tone landscape of Japanese art is
found in books of sketches from old pic-
tures, in books of sketchy studies, and in
design books for stencilling cloth, for fret-
saw work, etc. The sketches from old pic-
tures date from the early days of paint-
ing, when only clear black was used (Nos.
58, 59, 60, 61). They are, in fact, studies
in "spotting," to aid the memory of those
who had seen the originals, or to suggest
to others the general arrangement of the
masses in the masterpieces. The quality
of these old books with their age-stained
paper and velvety gray-black ink cannot
be reproduced, butthese illustrations may
stimulate the student to investigate for
himself.
Nos. 62, 63, and the rest, are examples of
more recent date, but of great interest for
their naive composition, their beauty of
Line and Notan.
The student should copy these, enlarge
and vary them.
N°58
Two sKetthes of
composition j by
old masters
Aipanetc book
o/- XVfll tenT
Par* 65
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Page 66
N°60
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«e p>t O,/0, 37.30 al>e fi. Si.
N°62 N°63
Orjg'in*! compo
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Sketch book of
the Shi jo school
Page 67
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
XX. — THREE TONES
CLEAR black against clear white is
a strong contrast, and even the best
work in these tones has a certain
harshness, despite its sparkling brilliancy.
But the introduction of a tone of gray , mid-
way between these two extremes changes
the conditions radically, and opens up a
whole new class of creative possibilities.
With these three tones comes the beauty
of different degrees of Notan, the "value"
of one tone against another. This simple
set of three tones is the basis of the mezzo-
tint, the charcoal sketch, the aquatint, and
the wash-drawing. In this class belong
the old masters' drawings on gray paper
with black and white.
From three tones it is easy to develope
compositions into many tones, and in
these refinements of the great element
of Notan lies the true meaning of the
word " Values." This word in modern art-
education is restricted to that property of
painted objects whereby they take their
places one beyond another in the picture.
While this is a desirable quality in picto-
rial art, it is nevertheless a quality belong-
ing to Representation, not to Beauty, and
in its extreme manifestation becomes a
species of deception most agreeable to the
mindunappreciativeofart. The multitude
who have no perception of harmonies of
tone and color are delighted to see objects
"stand out" in the picture "as if they
were real." But the word "values " in its
broadest and truest sense refers to beauty
only; the value of a tone is its lightness or
darkness by which it affects the tone next
to it.
In three-tone work a new exercise of judg-
ment is involved, that of determining the
value of the medium tone. The student
has to mix this tone and decide when it is
of the right depth. Here he begins really
to paint for the first time.
EXERCISE
For this painting-exercise will be need-
ed two new kinds of materials— a white
plate, or set of dishes (correspondingto the
palette in oil painting) on which to mix the
ink tones — and flat Japanese brushes.
The first difficulty to overcome is the lay-
ing of a flat wash, a problem of water-
color painting requiring dexterity and
much practice. For a space of consider-
able size a flat brush is preferable to a
round one. As to paper the best results are
produced on a well-sized Japanese paper
of fine quality. The thin coating of glue
keeps the edge of the wash from drying in
before the brush can take it up.
For a beginning choose a simple straight-
line pattern, decide which parts of it shall
be white, and wash a medium tone of gray
over the rest. When dry, paint in the black
spaces. Aclean ink-stone, clean plate, and
clean brush are essential to success.
68
Page 69
To illustrate Sec XXI
P*SC I2-
Page 70
The reason for keepingthetonesflat is that
the value of a whole space can best be
judged when it is flat. If it is sloppy and
uneven it loses force and interest. In be-
ginners' work and in decorative design
flatness is necessary. But of course in ac-
tual picture-painting the absolutely flat
tone would rarely be used.
(Note. Many of the three-tone illustra-
tions were drawn upon "scratch-board"
for convenience of reproduction — in this
case thefine lines standf or thegray wash.)
DARK-AND-
LIGHT COM-
POSITION
XX.— THREE
TONES
Composition by "Rlbot - jce Sect Un VHE
also po-<?es 3<? a** 40
Pag* 71
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
XXL— THREE TONES — FLOWERS
THE examples with this section
sufficiently explain themselves.
A comparison of these with the
flowers in two tones will at once make
evident the new kind of delicate beauty
that the third tone introduces.
Designs such as these could easily find
a place in book-illustration.
The irregular shapes in flower composi-
tion will probably necessitate the use of
the round, pointed brush in putting on
the washes.
7i« pen-Una tepreseififlUeflHtink'Uaih
Page 73
W7~2
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Flowers to il-
luitrdte Sec XXI
5eepp.70,71
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lustrate Sec.XXIL
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Page 73
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Page 74
DARK-AND-LIGHT COMPOSITION
XXII.— THREE TONES — LANDSCAPE
IN applying three tones to pictorial
art we go a step beyond the two
previous exercises, for this brings us
almost to the expression of effects of
nature like gray days and twilight.
Still the student should, for the
present, consider his landscape as a
pattern or mosaic of varying tones, re-
gardless of questions of realistic truth.
As in all his work, beauty of arrange-
ment must engage his attention above
all else.
Many illustrators have produced the
third tone in black and white work by
means of closely-spaced pen lines. This
has the advantage of being easily repro-
duced.
EXERCISE
For three-tone landscape the pupil can
use Japanese ink and wash as in the
last exercise, or pen and ink with fine
lines for the third tone, or charcoal. In
the latter case put a tone over the whole
paper, take out the lights with bread or
rubber, and draw in the darks with
very black charcoal. This is closely
allied to the process of mezzotint and
aquatint.
It is perhaps unnecessary to suggest
that a wide scope can be given this exer-
cise by varying each landscape attempt-
ed, and that the student should draw one
of his own from nature and treat it in the
same way.
75
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
XXIII. — THREE TONES — AN IMAGINARY POEM
THIS will be a practical applica-
tion of the foregoing lessons in
composition. It comprises the ar-
rangement of verses of poetry, a title in
large type, and a landscape, upon a mag-
azine page. It seems a complicated af-
fair, but is really little more than a sim-
ple arrangement of areas, like Sections
I and II. The text may be represented
by a flat gray wash. The edges of the
page are the boundaries of the composi-
tion, a parallelogram. If the verses, the
lettering and the pictorial part are en-
closed in rectangles, then the case is
similar to some of our first exercises, and
may be made a severe, symmetrical ar-
rangement. But whether the different
parts are regular or irregular, the prob-
lem is to set them together harmoniously.
The best illustrative work is character-
ized by restraint, dignity and simplicity.
The whole page must be one com-
plete composition. Students must avoid
strange, pseudo- Japanese combinations,
such as scroll-like shapes, imitations of
turned-down corners, or meaningless
sprays of flowers. Keep to plain simple
masses, beautiful in proportion and tone.
MORNING IN THE MARSHES
Page 76
L^^^ff^
tj^PH^ r*K
♦W^^~
THE OLD MILL
■I
M.N.K
Mornintf in the Marshes
LZj
H.S.
Page 77
Page 78
ADVANCED COMPOSITION
XXIV. — MANY TONES
LINE, Notan, and Color may be
called the language of the art of
Painting. Like the language of
speech it may be used well or ill, to voice
noble emotions in the beauty of poetic
style, or to subserve the vulgar and the
commonplace. There can be no aes-
thetic quality in this language unless it
conforms to the requirements of art. A
number of facts, accurately described in
paint and color, may have no more con-
nection with art than a similar set of
written statements — merely plain prose.
There is no art in such things unless the
statements are bound together by certain
subtle relations which we call beauty.
When beauty enters, the parts cease to
have a separate existence, but are melted
together into a unit.
Advanced composition is only a working
out of simple elements into more com-
plex and difficult interrelations. If the
picture has figures and landscape, the
lines of the figures and the lines of the
landscape run in such directions, inter-
sect and interweave in such ways as to
form a musical movement. The tones
and the colors are so arranged as to
mutually enrich one another. A noble
subject for a picture requires nobility of
style in its expression. Michelangelo's
line (No. u) is as grand as his subject.
We do not presume to define Beauty or
to attempt its description in words. Its
nature must be learned by experience
and by the study of the best works.
Beauty of Line is illustrated at the be-
ginning of this book (pages 7, 9, 10, 11,
12 and 13) ; many other painters are dis-
tinguished for this quality, for, example,
Ririomin (Chinese, nth century), Viva-
rini, and the designers of the best stained
glass, Durer, Holbein, and the great
etchers.
Beauty of Notan is found in perfection
as has been said before, in the works of
the old Chinese and Japanese masters
(pages 39, 40, 65, 66, 67). Rembrandt, Tur-
ner, William Morris Hunt, and again
the etchers, can also be studied for this
kind of language. (See Sec. VIII.)
Beauty of color has its highest develop-
ment in the Venetian school ; one hesi-
tates to specify, but two noble examples
might be mentioned, the "Santa Bar-
bara" of Palma Vecchio, and "The Rich
Man and Lazarus" of Bonifacio Vero-
nese. In the modern French school, if
one were to be singled out whose color
is pre-eminent, it would be Albert Bes-
nard.
In Japanese art the greatest masters of
this language are Nobuzane (13th cen-
tury), Korin (early 18th), and particu-
larly the color-print artists, from Hishi-
kawa Moronobu to Hiroshige.
79
ADVANCED This section is illustrated with a few ject in a few planes and simple masses
COMPOSI-
TION
XXIV.—
MANY
TONES
sketches for pictures, worked out in char-
coal by young students in the author's
classes at Pratt Institute. Their train-
ing in this new system of art education
has enabled them to conceive of a sub-
to keep in mind the underlying ideas of
composition — to think of a picture first
as pure design, secondly and subordi-
nate^ as Representation.
'^4»v **>*■...
©
Page 80
A-ti«i.U«lAH*>J-,^H!HU!.llW!y
tiwimwwjl
Druid priests worshipping at sunrise
The Departure of the old Ye&r
Page 81
^mtiWJiJW^iJW*'
Druid priests worshipping a1 sunrise
The Rc\uiy Day
[ThrouciMhe portals of the sunset
Sketch injhree tones|
Page 82
CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART
I HAVE called this book Part I, be-
cause other treatises may follow, tak-
ing up the subjects more in detail, in-
cluding principles not here mentioned,
and giving still fuller illustration of the
system's development in Line, Notan
and Color.
I have purposely kept to a broad and
general survey of the field of composi-
tion, as a more detailed consideration of
principles at this time, with their names,
might lead to misunderstanding. The
words Opposition, Transition, Subordi-
nation, Balance, Dark-and-Light, etc.,
though common words, were first used
by the author of this system to designate
certain special kinds of beauty, Or ways
of composing; hence, in order to be
rightly understood and used, they need-
special explanation and illustration, for
which there is no space in this small
volume. For instance, Opposition is a
great constructive idea, expressing se-
verity, calm, solemnity, grandeur ; it is
embodied in the Egyptian temple, the
Parthenon, the majestic paintings of
Puvis de Chavannes. To think of it as
a mere geometric right angle is entirely
to misunderstand its meaning. To really
comprehend such a principle means full
knowledge of its use in the art of the
world, and actual experience with it as
a mode of expression. Such a detailed
study of this and other principles will
be undertaken in some succeeding vol-
ume. The aim of this Part I has been to
suggest a line of practical work, which
would make clearer the so-called vague
subject of Composition.
Japanet* (see paga Oi)
Page 83
Date Due
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Library Bureau Cat, no. 1137
745.2D75
ASTTT
Art NC 740 . D7 1905
Dow, Arthur W. 1857-1922.
Composition
dow, Arir5w0°2 00085 9640
Composition : a serip* nf nu •
ienes ot exercises sele
<vi
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